Planning to sell on-line?

With record numbers of people shopping on-line in the UK last year, the time really couldn’t be better for your business to invest in an e-commerce website.

Of course you’ll need to plan it all out in advance to ensure that you reap the benefits when your new website goes live. So what exactly do you need to do? Well in the next few Blogs we’ll cover some of the key elements that you will need to address.

First up is to do your research. Get on-line and find out who your main competitors are. These are the websites that appear on Page 1 of Google for the main ‘search phrases’ that you want your website to be ultimately found under. For each of your competitor’s websites it’s a great idea to undertake a critique using a checklist. This checklist could include items such as ‘Colour Scheme’, ‘Design Layout’, ‘Navigation’, ‘Product Pricing’ etc. Work your way through this check list for each website and make notes about what you like, and more importantly what you don’t like. Keep asking yourself ‘If I was a customer would I want to shop on here?’.

This research will provide you with invaluable information for your own new e-commerce website. You’ll have a much better idea of how your website should look and how it will attract customers. Those last few words are essential, as your new website will need to be designed and built with your customers fully in mind. Remember, your potential customers will judge your website within just a few seconds. They’ll decide whether to stay and browse (and hopefully shop!), or they’ll find another website that’s more appealing.